Patrol

TX Officer Who Faked His Own Death Arrested in Dallas

Officer Coleman Martin was the subject of a statewide manhunt after authorities found a suicide note in his abandoned car. It is believed he staged his own death and fled to Mexico in order to be with a woman who was not his wife. (Photo: Dallas PD)

An Austin police officer who is accused of staging his own suicide and fleeing to the interior of Mexico has been arrested in Dallas.

APD Chief of Police Brian Manley says Officer Coleman Martin was taken into custody at the airport without incident on a warrant for a false alarm or report, a Class A misdemeanor.

Martin was released from jail on Thursday and will be placed on restricted duty, KXAN TV reports.

A suicide note found in Martin’s abandoned vehicle triggered a massive search operation, using air assets, boats, dive teams and other ground efforts, using local, state and federal resources, police say.

Scanner audio captured an officer’s account of what happened at the scene, CWBChicago reports: “Ten people surrounded me, indicating that they had firearms. And one person pulled him away from me, holding his waist, indicating that he would use a firearm against me.”

There were so many police officers, sheriff’s deputies and Highway Patrol troopers that the court appearance had to be moved out of Justice Court to Judge John Larson’s Courtroom Number Three on the third floor of the Missoula County Courthouse.

The vehicle pursuit ended in the town of Kittitas where Deputy Thompson was backed up by Officer Benito Chavez. The suspect exited the vehicle and exchanged shots with the two law enforcement officers.

Sarah Wilson and her boyfriend were arrested during a stop in Chesapeake after officers allegedly found drugs in the 1996 Lexus the couple were driving. Police said they handcuffed Wilson and, while attempting to apprehend her boyfriend, 27-year-old Holden Medlin, he became combative and ran away from the scene.